HD Traffic overridden by Live Traffic?

 

I'm currently using my 3597 with the included HD Digital Traffic receiver but I'm debating adding the Smartphone Live Traffic (through Garmin Smartphone Link $19.99) as well. It looks like it covers more cities and may be a nice adjunct to the HD Digital Traffic.

Does anyone know if these two work together to provide the best information or will one lock the other out from providing the data? For example if I start a trip in Detroit and I'm picking up a nice HD Digital Traffic signal, by the time I get to Toledo will I be picking up a Live Traffic SmartLink signal then (since there is no HD Digital coverage in Toledo)?

I asked Garmin and haven't received a good answer back yet. When I do, I'll post...

Thanks!

Unfortunately, it will not

Unfortunately, it will not automatically switch between HD digital and Smartphone Live Traffic. You have to reboot your Garmin to switch between the two. I hope Garmin makes them seamless one day.
I also have 3597 with HD receiver and smartphone Live service. I am in Canada so there is no HD traffic. I am using Smartphone Live traffic. It does a good job for highway traffic info. Couple of weeks I went to US in Buffalo and Pittsburgh area. HD traffic worked while in the cities but at the same time I tested smartphone Live service. It was pretty good as well. So it is your choice but there will be no auto switching.

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Iphone XR, Drivesmart 61,Nuvicam, Nuvi3597

So if that's the case, the

So if that's the case, the next question would be which is better?

I like the live traffic

I like the live traffic better. From my experience, the traffic updates every minute not 2 minutes garmin says on the site. Also because the new traffic info can be send to your nuvi directly from the server through data, it is really a live traffic. It is more up to date than HD traffic. I have been running 3597 with live traffic and 3490 with HD traffic for the past couple weeks. Live traffic was significantly more accurate. Plus I never lost the traffic signal once while HD traffic i lost the signal numerous times even though I'm in a very strong signal area. The live traffic was a very good one time purchase of $19.99 for me.

uheenada, thanks for your

uheenada, thanks for your feed back. My use of HD traffic is very limited in US for two days. During that time I was not too impressed. You are right, I noticed while in Pittesbugh that HD traffic was not updating as frequently as advertised. I switched to Live traffic in Pittsburgh and it was lot superior.
HD traffic is suppose to cover lots of side streets due to high bandwidth but I don't know if it is happening in reality or not. I don't I saw any side street coverage in Pittsburgh. Plus I like Live weather as well. I have seen weather alerts for thunder storms etc. pretty accurate in Toronto area.

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Iphone XR, Drivesmart 61,Nuvicam, Nuvi3597

So when I get in my car and

So when I get in my car and turn my unit on it's really a crapshoot as to whether it connects to the HD traffic or my phone first.

This sounds like a pretty sloppy implementation since they advertise the $19.99 Live Traffic on the device.

I think you have to disable

I think you have to disable bluetooth either on phone or Garmin, otherwise it will keep connecting to Smartphone subscription under SETTINGS, TRAFFIC, SUBSCRIPTIONS. Onc it does not find bluetooth, then it will connect to Navteq traffic.

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Iphone XR, Drivesmart 61,Nuvicam, Nuvi3597

Live Traffic is Better

The Live Traffic service is much better than the HD traffic. The HD service has many reception dead spots in the Washington, DC area and only works around cities. The Live Traffic works everywhere you have cell phone coverage.

I agree with you. US

I agree with you. US coverage is lot superior than Canada. But again, this is the best I can get in Canada so far.

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Iphone XR, Drivesmart 61,Nuvicam, Nuvi3597